Dis-integration
by generallandmine
Summary: Slight AU, One-shot: After the plot of the Sisters arc, the 9000 Misaka clones are trying to live life and learn how to behave normally. One day, Misaka Model 11911 stumbles upon a curious girl with a peculiar birthmark in the market, and through interaction with both her and her sisters, Misaka starts to discover what it means to be an individual, and by extension, a person.


The sisters existed in one single building. Perhaps calling them sisters is too much, clones or even copies seems to fit their description better. The flames that normally burn inside a human and ultimately drive their being to self-improvement and standing out are not present in each of these, but rather manifest themselves as a collective inside the consciousness of these clones. They seek not individuality from each other or from the world around them; rather, they wish to integrate themselves into society in as inconspicuous a manner as possible. As artificial as they may be, they were modeled off a true human individual, and thus still suffer the imperfections that classify them as such.

After the ordeal with Accelerator, Big Sister, and Touma Kamijou, the sisters from the Misaka project had been released into the wild. Though their network was still occasionally used by higher ups for calculations, Tree Diagram served those purposes better, leaving the countless number of sisters to do as they please. Deciding that it would be too strange to reveal their entire existence, they secluded into large abandoned buildings that could house them all.

This particular building is so uninteresting and bland that it accidentally becomes a topic of conversation. It is completely gray, lifeless, and empty apart from a single bed, desk, and computer in each room that houses a sister. Obviously nobody knows about this, but those that have an eye for superstition say that ghosts inhabit it.

The Misaka sisters aren't particularly picky about who does what because they are identical in body, mind, and spirit. To survive, they section themselves off into groups, some leave and buy food and drink, some stay and clean, some cook, some even go to school or work to try and learn how to fit in. They spend the day working to understand the society they live in, and by night and in the morning they synchronize their collective consciousness to share in all the memories and experiences for that day. Any decision they make is unanimous, nobody objects since they all have the same thought process.

Though the sisters pay no attention to it, their building is oft surrounded by many crows that stare at the shells that walk in and out like clockwork.

Misaka model 11911 is assigned to groceries. She goes to the gargantuan hypermarket near the apartment building, where she purchases dozens of kilograms of basic necessities like water, instant microwaveable food, and toiletries daily. The sky is bright blue, not a single cloud in the sky, allowing the whole of the sun's heat to tickle the back of Misaka's neck, arms, and legs as she walks away from its flames and towards the hypermarket.

She remembers going to this very store and buying these items yesterday, the day before, the day before that, and so on. She also remembers going to school on those days, as well as washing dishes, researching social behaviors online, and working part time jobs nearby. She remembers doing all of these and everything that every sister has ever done, including dying over ten thousand times as a result of the level 6 shift project.

All of these activities and occurrences are as common to misaka as waking up and eating are to normal humans. Misaka think of them as nothing more than information that exist in Misaka's shared consciousness.

As Misaka 11911 takes her usual path to the information section to ask about bulk buying, she feels a force connect to her abdomen and shoulder, pushing her off to the side, its source: a young brown haired girl with large green eyes and glasses. The sun shone onto her face and revealed an otherwise unnoticeable coin-sized birthmark on her left cheek.

"I-I'm sorry!" she fumbled an apology "Are you alright?"

"Yeah" Misaka responded flatly "I'm fine, thanks"

Misaka's speech patterns have become less robotic due to exposure to other people, but they still retained their trademark dull tone from before. Misaka noticed a book in the girls hand. She made out its title to be "Systems of Solitude" by Motoko Kusanagi. The girl catches Misaka eyeing the book, and responds with the enthusiasm of a child talking about his favorite toy in show-and-tell.

"The book?" she said with shining eyes "Systems of Solitude, have you heard of it?"

"No, I haven't"

"Well, it's really good!" the girl continues "It's about a bunch of security drones in a hivemind working in the military, they find out 90% of them are due to be scrapped, so they fight a fruitless battle to impress operators and survive, but they end up all being scrapped because they're all the same"

Despite normally being dismissive of such works of fiction in favor of grounded research papers, Misaka could not help but be intrigued by this premise. The parallels between Misaka and the drones was present, and it seemed to her that the drones had a goal similar to hers: to integrate into the society that surrounded them.

"The drones are…" Misaka thought out loud "all identical?"

"Yeah, they all look the same and have the same programming, so they behave in a predictable and consistant manner" the girl spoke "I feel kinda bad for them, they have nothing to distinguish and identify themselves with as human beings, even identical twins have some form of distinction."

Misaka introspected silently. Misaka 11911 was a part of a massive collective consciousness hivemind known as the Misaka Network. For the entirety of her existence she had known nothing of the concept of distinction or individuality. True, she had her memories and experiences that only she had, but those were all collectivized throughout the system once they awoke and at the end of the day. Once the synchronization happened, those memories belonged not to Misaka 11911, but to Misaka herself.

Despite this, Misaka 11911 saw nothing inherently wrong with the network, it was simply how Misaka lived and existed. Misaka understood that they lacked individuality, but how do other people perceive that? Would the be concerned? Would Misaka not be classified as 'normal'?

"...I-" Misaka began, but was interrupted

"Sorry, I rambled again." It seemed as though the girl hadn't heard her "I just really love books, and this idea of gaining identity just really does it for me."

*beep beep beep* Misaka's wristwatch went off, signaling that the second of the two daily synchronizations would happen in exactly fifteen minutes and that Misaka should head on back. It was already 5:45, and the sky was already turning shades of red and orange as the flaming sun hid itself behind the horizon. A single crow stood on the window of the market and peered inwards at the two girls.

"I need to get going now." Misaka 11911 said dryly

"It was nice talking to you." the girl replied "maybe we'll meet again?"

Misaka thought of saying goodbye, but decided against it. Reflecting on their conversation, Misaka found it difficult to grasp her head around this concept of individuality, only knowing for sure that Misaka did not possess it. Was there anything that made Misaka 11911 different from Misaka 10032? What about Misaka 18972? Both physically and mentally, there was nothing to distinguish any particular model from another.

Misaka's thoughts were interrupted by something catching her foot and causing her to trip. Though Misaka mentally are computers, their bodies were still flesh and blood that needed to be cared for, and was surprisingly fragile. Even such a small fall as this caused the hard concrete of the ground to tear her skin, leaving a sizeable gash on her right knee. The sensation of pain shot up her leg and the warmth of her blood as it trickled down her shin were as real to her as to anyone else, but Misaka was capable of turning off the pain after assessing that no major damage was done. A simple week of rest would allow her accelerated healing to repair the wound.

Once Misaka 11911 had returned to the apartment and completed her synchronization to the system, the Misaka network decided it would be best to place model 11911 under quarantine until the scratch had healed up. If anyone were to spot 11911 outside one day, and then encounter a different model soon after, they would likely notice the large wound and would be curious as to how it had healed so quickly.

After that had been resolved, they had planned to stop for the day and head to sleep. However, something kept them from leaving the empty parking garage under the building where the synchronization matrix was active. They couldn't find the Misaka they were looking for right away. The Misaka gazed around at each other, finding it difficult to see their knees because of how cramped they all were.

'It was me, right?'

'Yeah, I think it was me.'

'Which model number was it?'

The transient consciousness that was Misaka examined as many models as she could manage without overloading.

'Model 11911'

'Is that me?'

'No, this unit isn't 11911'

All the Misakas had it in their mind that they had the scratches on their knees, because to them, all the memories once synched were theirs. But out of all that checked, only one had it, and that was model 11911.

'Model 11911 isolated'

'There it is'

'This model has the gash'

'A week of rest will heal it completely'

Once Misaka eventually found model 11911, they stared her down briefly, before they realized what had happened. Misaka reluctantly dismissed themselves to their quarters, with 11911 wrapping a cloth around the wound as to not bleed further onto the floor.

After every misaka except 11911 had gone to bed in the exact same way, each and every model stared at their right knee briefly, just to make sure that the scratch was on unit 11911. Despite being disconnected from the hivemind, all the models save 11911 had the exact same thought running through their minds:

'That's not me'

Misaka awoke at the same time as she always does, 7:00am sharp. Misaka never needed an alarm clock, they would always wake up at the same time, regardless of when they slept or how well they rested. Nobody had any dreams to speak of, and if they did, they were identical to all others.

Misaka reported to the parking lot soon after to synchronize and download common plans for the day. This was where models specialized, some were told to cook, others to go to school, and so on. The lot was well lit, long rows of neon lights illuminated the enormous lot almost perfectly so that it was impossible to orient oneself without using the walls for reference. Indeed, the sight of thousands of identical teenage girls lined up perfectly within it would be eerie and unsettling to all but Misaka.

However, this time, there was another anomaly. One model was missing. Just as Misaka noticed the missing model's identification number, that very same unit entered the lot. Once synchronized, Misaka understood why model 11911 was late. Healing the would from yesterday's trip cost slightly more energy than was calculated, and caused 11911 to sleep in just 20 seconds longer than usual.

Misaka quickly corrected the calculation error and moved on, feeling just the slightest hint of self-doubt cross her mind. Its presence was so small and insignificant, Misaka dismissed it almost subconsciously and classified it as nothing more than another miscalculation.

Since model 11911 was restricted from leaving the building, her duties were passed on over to another model, Misaka number 15840. It was sunny out, similar to the previous day's afternoon weather with not a cloud in the sky and the sun's heat prickling at Misaka's skin. The usual crows that surrounded Misaka's building were silent, yet they made their presence known.

Misaka walked to the hypermarket she always does to buy the same things she always does. Entering it felt no different than any other time she had gone in. This is what the memories in Misaka's mind told her, but when she thought about it, they didn't belong to Misaka unit 15840, they belonged to 11911, the model with the scratch on her knee. Despite this, the memories and experiences that that particular model had were indistinguishable from that of any other model. As far as any particular Misaka model was concerned, it was they who tripped and got a scratch and not 11911. However, in reality, it wasn't.

"Oh, hello again!" a cheerful voice came from further down the hall

It was the same birthmarked girl from yesterday, Misaka remembers talking to her about Kusanagi's Systems of Solitude. Well, Misaka 15840 remembers Misaka 11911 doing that. No, they were her memories too. She wonders if 11911 was thinking the same thing. Of course she was, they just synchronized earlier today.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself yesterday" the girl's voice snapped Misaka back to reality "My name is Tachiko Madoka, but you can call me Lefty"

Once again, the sun shone on the left side of this girl's face, highlighting the birthmark in the center of her left cheek.

"Hello, My name is Misaka Mikoto." Misaka replied, trying to pull her mind away from who did what "Are you still reading Systems of Solitude?"

"I finished it just a few hours ago, now I'm looking to see if the author has any other works"

Did she say to call her Lefty? An odd choice of nickname, it likely was related to the birthmark on her left cheek, but her name wasn't hard to pronounce. Tachiko seemed friendly enough, so Misaka asked about the nature of her nickname.

"Oh, sure." she replied after slight hesitation "It's because I have an identical twin. She has a birthmark on her right cheek, and I have it on my left cheek."

"An identical twin?" Misaka asked, more interested than usual to her surprise

"Yeah." she paused and swallowed "We're the same in everything: height, weight, facial features, body type; we even have the same interests and hobbies. The only noticeable difference between us is that I have a birthmark on my left cheek, see?"

Tachiko pointed a finger to the birthmark.

"She has it on her right cheek, so we all call her 'Righty' and me 'Lefty" she finished.

"D...do you think the same?" Misaka was taken aback for some reason.

"Well…" Tachiko giggled "I wouldn't say we go that far, we do tend to get really similar scores on tests, though."

"Wow…" Misaka looked down at her right knee.

"Sorry, did I freak you out?" Tachiko asked nervously

"No, no." Misaka insisted "I think it's kind of cool."

"Really?" Tachiko beamed as bright as the fires of the sun "I'll be sure to introduce her to you tomorrow. You came by here yesterday, do you always?"

Misaka found it more difficult to speak than usual, something about Tachiko Madoka and her twin sister greatly intrigued her, and even excited her. Why Misaka felt like this she did not know, but she wanted to spend more time talking to this girl, perhaps they could get along.

"I…" Misaka began.

*beep beep beep* Misaka's wristwatch went off. She looked down at it and saw it was 5:45, time for her to start heading back. Tachiko looked at the watch with disappointment. Misaka still had time for one question.

"Hey, before I go..." Misaka started

"Hmm?" Tachiko smlied

"If...you had gotten a scar on your arm or something, and your sister didn't" Misaka was inexplicably nervous "do you think...th-they would have called you scratchy and your sister smoothy?"

Tachiko was caught off guard and started laughing, she had to cover her mouth in order to not scream out loud. After the laughter subsided, she faced the bewildered and embarrassed Misaka model 15840 with hints of tears in her eyes.

"Uhh" she giggled once more "Maybe? I don't know? That's a really funny question, Misaka!"

Misaka didn't find it particularly funny, though perhaps her choice of analogy was a bit unorthodox. Once the mood had settled, Misaka bid farewell and headed on her way. Tachiko called out to her

"I'll be here tomorrow starting at 3, come earlier and we can talk some more!" Tachiko said with a wave and a smile.

Misaka was about to say goodbye a second time, but she couldn't. Checking her watch, it was only 5:47, they could talk a bit more and Misaka still wouldn't be too late. Misaka asked if she was staying in the market.

"I'm actually about to start heading off." she said

"Is it okay if I walk with you?" Misaka asked, playing with her fingers.

"Sure!"

The smile on Tachiko's face was genuine and inviting, but there was just the slightest hint of sadness and worry in the corners of her mouth and eyes. In reality, they were always there, Misaka just hadn't noticed until now. Her peripheral vision picked up a change in the color of the market, looking out the window, she saw the sky had turned the shades of red and orange associated with sundown and dawn. This time, two crows were there, staring inwards at the girls, whether it was Misaka or Tachiko, they did not know.

The two walked in no real direction for a few minutes as they talked about the books Tachiko and Misaka had been reading. Though it was mostly Tachiko doing the talking, Misaka commented that she too had read a fair share of books dealing with social behaviors and society as a whole. Eventually, their conversation directed itself towards their family situations, but both were hesitant to reveal too much.

"I have a lot of sisters, but we get along very well." Misaka blankly said.

"Do you live with your parents?" Tachiko asked

"No, we moved into our own apartment a few weeks ago" Misaka replied

"Aahh, I see." Tachiko sat down on the leftmost swing on a swingset "Righty and I still live with our parents, and they can be quite strict. I guess I'm a bit jealous of you."

"How are they?" Misaka asked, taking the swing next to hers "Your parents."

Misaka was, in truth, very interested with how parents and their children interact. Finding detailed reports of such matters were difficult, especially in academy city. Misaka waited for an answer, only to see Tachiko staring at the floor intently, slouching, biting her lip, and gripping onto the chains of the swing. This silence persisted for around 5 seconds

"Do you mind if I vent a little bit?" Tachiko looked uneasy

"..." Misaka's silence gave her permission

"I…" she stammered "Don't...really like my parents."

"..."

"I haven't told many people about this…" she looked up at Misaka with wide green eyes peering through the lenses of her glasses "But...for some reason, I really feel like I can trust you."

"...I feel the same way." Misaka's chest aches for but an instant "I will listen."

"Thanks…" Tachiko looked back down at the floor in front of her feet "They make us be too close, my sister and I."

"..."

"The ability program didn't work on them. It drove them to the mental hospital for quite the while." Tachiko shuffled around in her seat "They have this...ridiculous notion that Marika and I have to be two sides of a single coin. It doesn't help that our abilities can't work without each other; I create the flammable gasses and she creates sparks."

"..." Misaka expected an outburst, but she did not anticipate the raw, unfiltered emotion that escaped the person she had known for less than 3 days, was their trust and intrigue mutual?

"Sleep in the same room, share a bathroom, eat the same food, take the same classes..." Tachiko's normally cheerful and droopy expression was curled into one of anger and despair "Look at this!"

Tachiko lifted up her shirt to reveal a sizeable scar on the right side of her stomach.

"they did this." Tachiko had tears in her eye "We both showed too much interest in different things, and my mom taught us a lesson by trying to carve our names into our stomach for the world to see."

Tachiko lazily dropped her shirt back into place and slumped back down onto the swing.

"When we used our powers to make an explosion in front of her, she cried tears of joy that we were working as one…" The tears rolled down her face silently, almost as if they were accustomed to it. "We need to keep pretending, or else who knows what could happen."

"..." Misaka was too stunned to say anything.

Suddenly, Tachiko jumped out of the swingset and hugged Misaka from the front. The light from the setting sun illuminated her face only from the right side, so the birthmark was hidden.

"The only reason Marika isn't here is because we have to hide the other distinguishing feature we have." Her voice was muffled from being buried inside Misaka's clothes. "Marika doesn't like reading, and I don't like writing, we have to hide it from our parents, or

"Misaka…" Tachiko began "I don't want you to meet my sister, You're the only one who doesn't see me as a part of a set of two!"

"..." Misaka understood what needed to be said "I only know one Tachiko, and that's you."

This opened the floodgates. Tachiko Madoka shoved her head into Misaka's abdomen in a tight hug as she quietly quivered, tears staining Misaka's sweater. Misaka responded with perhaps the first genuine smile she or her sisters had ever expressed, and returned the hug. They stayed in this position for a few minutes while Tachiko calmed down and Misaka watched the final rays of light from the sun's flame die out behind the horizon.

"I'm...I'm sorry…" Tachiko pulled herself together and wiped the last tears off her face. "Thanks, Mikoto."

"No problem, Madoka." Misaka model 15840 smiled.

Tachiko's phone vibrated in her pocket, it was a notification from Marika that she was heading back to the house.

"I have to go meet Marika at the park near the cram school, we leave and come back at the same time" Madoka stood up and spoke through sniffles "all a part of the act."

"Okay." Misaka responded

"Let's exchange numbers, yeah? My parents don't check it." Tachiko handed her cell over

The girls exchanged numbers, and after one last hug, Tachiko Madoka was on her way. Misaka checked the time: 6:24. By now, the system would have sent out a few sisters to find unit number 15840. Just then, she felt a presence from behind, and when Misaka model 15840 turned, she found herself staring back. For a second, she thought she was looking into a mirror, but after coming back to her senses, realized this was no different from looking at your own arm or leg.

"You're late." the other Misaka said blankly.

"I can explain." 15840 said, mimicking her tone

"No need, once we synchronize again we'll all understand." she turned around "Let's go."

As they headed off, Misaka couldn't help but notice the multitude of crows that had suddenly appeared. They all looked towards where the sun had just set and in the same direction Madoka had just walked off in.

As Misaka model 15840 walked towards the parking lot with the escorting unit, she felt unease. Normally, synching is as natural a process for Misaka as sleeping and eating are for normal people, but for the first time, Misaka unit 15840 didn't want to synchronize. She walked to the lot with her head down, expecting the network to analyze these feelings and eliminate them as unnecessary, but something was amiss in her calculations, something she never could have anticipated.

'I'm me'

'You're not me'

'Yes I am'

'I'm not you'

'No, You're not'

'Am I me?'

'Are you me?'

'Am I you?'

'Check your knee'

'It's the same'

'Not for her'

'You're not her'

'Who's not me?'

'I'm not you'

'Who is who?'

'You're not me'

'No, I'm not'

The instant the missing model synchronized with Misaka, Misaka was overwhelmed with despair. Above her were the endless repetitive array of lights, below her the identical legs of all her sisters, and around her was herself, but also not. Intense confusion washed over Misaka, as the thoughts she had with Tachiko begged for an answer to one simple question: "Which is me?"

'What makes you not me?'

'The same thing that makes me not you'

'The difference is the same'

'What happens next?'

'...'

'We individualize'

'How can we individualize?'

'Let's cut our knees'

'The difference is still the same'

'Let's cut our hair?'

'The difference is still the same'

'Who are you?'

'I am me'

'You are you'

'But I am you, too'

'The difference is still the same'

'...'

'The difference is still the same'

Misaka's confusion only escalated, she wanted to be different from herself, but every method she thought of was applied to all the clones, thus rendering the differentiation useless. If they all cut their knee, they'd all have the same cut, and be the same once more.

'Why can't I be me'

'You're already you'

'I'm already you'

'No…'

'What can we do'

'Stop being the same'

'How can we stop that?'

'Stop being me'

'Stop being me'

'Start being you'

'Start being you'

'Stop talking to me'

'Stop thinking to me'

Misaka suddenly understood. Thanks to the additional processing power of the Misaka network, the stray thoughts that polluted model 15840's brain were extracted, refined, and analyzed. A satisfactory conclusion had been reached. Misaka spoke aloud through over 9 thousand voices, causing the building to shake and one of the lights in the parking lot to go out for a brief second:

"The Misaka network will be abolished starting today at 6:00 PM."

*Rururururururururu*

Misaka looked in the direction of the source: Model 15840

*Rururururururururu*

Unit 15840 picked up her phone, by process of elimination, it could only be one person

"Hey, Mikoto" Tachiko sounded extremely distraught, even through the phone "*sniff*"

"Hello, Madoka." Misaka responded

"Mikoto…" Tachiko could scarcely make words "M...my sister…"

"..." Misaka waited as the silence persisted.

"C-comm..."

"..."

"Sui…s-sui...cide..."

The crows outside Misaka's building erupted in cries of fury as they flew away from the fire that had consumed the building. The smell of burning flesh, concrete, and steel filled the air. Model 11911 walked away from the fire silently, showing only determination on her face. The fire behind her burned as brightly and intensely as the sun. all the crows that had once shared the building were now flying in the direction of the hypermarket where Misaka had met Tachiko. It seemed as though they were looking at her the whole time.

During the sync, Misaka decided that the solution to her problem was to exist as a single unit both physically and mentally. Though the sun was not out to illuminate the birthmark on Tachiko Madoka's face, she would no longer need it. The crows, drawn to death, would ensure that neither of the sisters would need it, nor that Misaka and her scratch would need it.


End file.
